


Forming Bonds

by wth_am_i_writing



Series: Trust-verse Collaboration [4]
Category: VIXX
Genre: Can be read alone, Gen, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Mild Language, POV Third Person, Prequel of sorts, Side Story
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-27
Updated: 2018-12-27
Packaged: 2019-09-27 06:46:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,807
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17157209
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wth_am_i_writing/pseuds/wth_am_i_writing
Summary: He could handle going from street rat to guard dog and errand boy, but he needed to stop messing up his job if he ever wanted to make it up to the person that pulled him off the streets.





	Forming Bonds

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on Tumblr on September 20, 2014.
> 
> Original Author’s Note: A scene similar to this almost made it into “Phoenix” but I decided not to include it. The ida wouldn’t leave me alone so I decided to write this little piece. Chronologically it takes place before the series, but it’s best read after, I think. I haven’t had much energy to write but I sat down last night and use wrote this and it was quite relaxing and relieving. Hopefully I get get some other stuff out soon. Well, enjoy!

“Nixe!” Leo called out, banging on the outside of her bedroom door. She didn’t answer the door, but that didn’t deter him. “Nixe!” When she still failed to answer, he heaved a sigh and leaned his forehead against the door. He closed his eyes for a moment before looking down at the medical supplies cradled in his arm. deciding he couldn’t give up just yet, he straightened and knocked again. “Please let me in,” he pleaded. After a few seconds the lock on the door clicked and Nixe cracked the door open.

“Where’s my dad?” she asked, peeking out, voice sharp and guarded.

“Unconscious on his bed,” Leo answered. The answer seemed to calm her and she stepped back, opening the door wide enough for Leo to slip in. Once he was inside, she closed and locked it. She stayed there, shoulders trembling slightly, back facing Leo. When Leo reached out and brushed her shoulder she shrugged away from him, closing up on herself.

“Don’t touch me,” she ordered, voice stern, yet it was obvious how shaken she was. She slipped past Leo and returned to her bed, climbing on top of it with a wince and curling up with her back to the wall and legs pulled to her chest.

“Your wounds…” Leo prompted, stepping towards her bed.

“Leave ‘em. They always healed on their own in the past,” she clipped, resting her forehead on her knees.

“You’re bleeding…” Leo pressed, sitting next to her on the bed and putting the medical supplies down on his other side.

“It’ll scab over,” she scoffed, otherwise ignoring him.

“Please…” he pleaded, gripping her arm gently. She lifted her head and glared at him with bloodshot eyes. She lowered her head again and Leo pulled back slowly. He leaned back against the wall, letting out a deep sigh. He was riddled with guilt, blamed himself for the fact that she was like that. He was supposed to be _protecting her_ , but he’d failed miserably and now she was pushing him away. He had two jobs, and he arguably fucked up the more important one.

He stared stared out at her mostly empty bookcase, a few stuffed animals, knives and books on the shelves. Her whole room was utilitarian in nature, the only thing she really owned a lot of being expensive brand named clothing. A few of Leo’s belongings were strewn across the floor from when he’d rushed out earlier in the day, but the room was otherwise clean–more because of their lack of possessions than from either of them being tidy people.

This was what he’d come to call home over the last several months, but he was eternally grateful for it, for Nixe and her father and the organization that took him in. He’d been on a sure fire path to destruction on the streets, his druggie mother having left him to fend for himself a couple of years prior. He didn’t like street life, and he’d gotten reckless, started heading down the same spiral with drugs his mom had started years ago. He’d never imagined his drug dealer would drag him off the street and throw him on her couch when he got behind on payments, but then again he never expected a fourteen year old _girl_ to be as good at fighting as she was.

Nixe inhaled sharply and Leo snapped his gaze to her. She slowly released the breath before lifting her head and looking out over her room with unfocused eyes. She took another deep inhale then finally spoke, “I guess… I guess you can treat my wounds.”

Leo immediately grabbed the cotton balls and disinfectant he’d brought with him. Nixe sat up straighter so he had better access to her injuries. He dabbed gently at her split lip and she flinched slightly, her hands curling into fists. He dabbed the blood away then dipped down further to make sure he cleaned up the rest of the blood from the cut that had run down her chin. The area was already starting to discolor, a large bruise forming where she’d been hit twice. He switched his cotton balls out and dabbed at the small cut on her forehead, another bruise forming there. Leo let out a shaky breath, the guilt creeping up more. It wasn’t as bad as when she’d first brought him home, but it still shouldn’t have happened–especially not on his watch.

“I’m sorry,” he murmured, pulling back and lowering his hands. He paused for a second before reaching for the anti-biotic cream. He put a small dab on a cotton swab and looked back up at Nixe. Her expression was puzzled.

“It’s _not_ your fault,” she iterated.

“I shouldn’t have left you alone with him,” Leo pressed. “I _know_ what he’s like when he’s drunk, but I left you alone with him anyway.” He’d been out with Nixe’s father, acting as his errand boy while he was drinking with allies from EXO. When they’d gotten back, Nixe complained complained about skipping dinner, so Leo’d set out for the twenty-four hour convenience store to buy something for both of them to eat. By the time he’d gotten back, her father had knocked her to the ground and was kicking her in the stomach. Leo managed to restrain him, and Nixe fled the scene as soon as she collected herself enough to move, locking herself in her room.

“It probably would have happened whether you’d left or not,” she corrected him sharply. Leo ignored her sharp tone and lifted the cotton swab to the cut on her forehead. “He was mad at me.”

“That doesn’t–”

“He found out I slept with Seongmin-oppanim to get better selling grounds,” she cut him off in a rushed explanation. Leo’s words died in his mouth and he lowered his hand in shock. He blinked as he tried to process the information.

“Seongmin-hyungnim?” repeated the name, the man’s face coming clearly to mind. He wasn’t exactly know for his shining morals even if he was her boss’s boss. He felt anger rising in his stomach. “Did he–”

“No,” she swiftly shushed him before he could finish. “I was the one that approached him. Wrapped him around my finger and got him to do what I wanted.”

“Oh,” Leo said dumbly, shocked again, though he supposed he shouldn’t have been. Barely fifteen and she was a force to be reckoned with–quick witted and highly driven. She’d decided long ago that she wanted to climb the ladder as far as she could within VIXX and it seemed she would seriously use all her cards to do so. At Leo’s silence she sighed and curled back into herself.

“I shouldn’t have told you,” she murmured, staring at her busted up knuckles from where she’d fought back against her father. Leo shook his head and carefully reached out for her hand.

“I was just surprised,” Leo explained. He fell silent as he tried to think of the right words to say, bringing a cotton ball filled with disinfectant to her knuckles to clean them. Her fingers twitched and she sucked in a sharp breath at the sting. “Did you at least enjoy it?”

“I hated it,” she said with a bitter smile. “It hurt, and he’s not good at it. But I chose to do it myself, so I’m already over it.” Leo hummed in understanding, grabbing a roll of cloth bandages. They fell into silence as he wrapped, Leo trying to figure out how to word his feelings properly as he worked.

“It still doesn’t make it alright for your father to beat you like that,” he finally voiced, tying off the bandage. “He can’t control you forever.”

“I _know_ ,” she sighed as Leo too her other hand to clean the cuts. “I’m just saying he would have done it even if you hadn’t left.” Leo looked up into her eyes, stare piercing.

“I would have stopped him after the first hit.” Nixe dropped her gaze to their hands, eying the bruising on Leo’s left knuckle. Leo switched the cotton ball for bandages and started wrapping her hand.

“Thank you.” The words were more breathed than spoken, but Leo knew it took a lot for her to get them past her lips in situations like this. She held a lot of pride at being able to hold her own, and needing to be rescued from her own father was humiliating. But there was only so much that she could do to fight back against a man as strong as her father even if he was drunk.

“How’s your stomach? Did he hit any ribs?” Leo asked, tying off the bandages on her hand.

“I don’t think anything’s damaged. I’m just sore,” she answered, catching Leo’s hands before he could pull away. “Thank you.” A smile tugged at Leo’s lips as he gripped her hands back. She’d done so much for him that something like this could barely pay her back. He hadn’t–couldn’t have–done anything to stop her father the night she brought him home, he’d been so far gone as he’d crashed from his high. It’d been chilling when, barely sober, he saw Nixe the next day and she explained that she’d convinced her dad not to beat him to a pulp and throw him back on the streets, that he was obviously something better than he’d been letting himself become, that he wasn’t allowed to go back to the streets.

“N’s gonna wail when he sees me tomorrow,” she blurted out suddenly, laughter tinting her voice. Leo looked up at her, searching her sheepish smile for the reason why she’d so randomly changed the topic. “Let’s tell him I got in a fight with a client. If he gets worried, he’s gonna spread it all over and then it’ll be a mess…” It clicked in Leo’s mind suddenly and he couldn’t drive down the resulting smirk.

“You like him,” Leo teased, resisting the urge to laugh when Nixe flushed. She pulled away from Leo and resettled on the bed so she was half laying down, half propped on the wall, grabbing a black cat plus toy. She brought it around front and squeezed it with a pout on her lips, the image coming off as incredibly cute to Leo.

“Doesn’t matter. He’s got a girlfriend. I’ve got ambitions. I don’t think it’s meant to be,” she grumbled. Leo plucked the plush from her hands and tucked it into his arms, settling in next to Nixe. It was comfortable and warm there by her side. He leaned his head on her shoulder as he let his sight settle on her bookcase again. “You’re not gonna tell him, right?” she asked once Leo was settled, leaning her head on top of his.

“Wouldn’t dream of it.”


End file.
